When I sat down to write today, I looked for a prompt that would be easy. Something light and relatable. Something that would be an easy read. But, today, that would be unacceptable.
The murder of Ahmaud Arbery has been on my mind since I heard about it earlier this week. It would be irresponsible for me, a black journalist, to not address this.
The headlines were synonymous with hundreds I’ve read before:
‘The fatal killing of a black man’
‘Unarmed black man killed’
‘Black man killed while…’
Have you ever searched ‘black man killed …’ in Google and looked at the auto complete section? The answers range from ‘over pizza’ to ‘over parking space’ to ‘in his apartment’. Straightforward, simplistic, but never honest.
Ahmaud Arbery was chased, shot and killed while out for a run on February 23, 2020. He was followed by two white men who claim he matched the description of a burglary suspect from a series of break-ins in their Georgia neighborhood. He was chased, attacked, and during a struggle between Arbery and one of the men, Arbery was fatally shot three times.
The two white men say they were ‘fed up with the burglaries in their neighborhood’ by the time the incident happened. They were fed up. They felt they had the right to follow, confront, and kill an unarmed black man because they were fed up. Their defense is that they were attempting to make a citizen arrest. They say they were standing their ground.
When I first read the headline, I couldn’t help but to think ‘not again’. I hated the fact that I felt numb. I hated the fact that this story did not shock or surprise me. All I could feel was outrage, then despair and hopelessness. I am tired. I am hurt. I am disgusted. But I am not surprised by the actions of these men. The system was built to protect them. Any defense they pull out of their ass is seen as just in the eyes of the law. These two white men were never arrested. They have not been charged in the murder of Ahmaud Arbery. They have been walking around free since February 23. The 36-second video of the murder was not posted until two months later. It was announced the case will now go to a grand jury, but for the last two months, absolutely no action has been taken against these murderers.
These men treated Ahmaud Arbery’s life as an afterthought. They did not kill him because he burglarized their neighborhood. They did not kill him out of self-defense. They killed him for the same reason Trayvon Martin, Botham Jean, and so many others were killed. Arbery was killed out of hate, out of a warped sense of entitlement, out of ignorance.
Ahmaud deserves justice. I encourage everyone reading this post to visit RunWithMaud.com to rally around bringing this case to justice. We can’t sit back and allow them to keep killing our fathers, brothers, spouses, and children without even the fear of repercussion.
To learn how to help, visit RunWithMaud.com.
